by Lucy Auburn
“Sorry.” He has the good sense to look ashamed at least. “I guess... when you ran off like that, it just seemed like maybe you had someone else you were more interested in.”
Awkward. I try to play it off. “Who else could I possibly have met in the short time I’ve been here?”
They exchange a glance instead of looking at me. Sam ventures, “Yohan?”
We all laugh, and it eases the tension, though there’s still plenty of awkwardness and hormonal moping to go around for one night. Here I thought being homeless was rough; at least on the streets I didn’t have to deal with boys on the cusp of manhood going all broody over me. I guess I’m a real girl now, school drama and all.
“We should probably go back to our rooms,” Sam points out. “You never know when Kade will get up in the middle of the night to sharpen his swords.”
“I’m not even sure he ever does sleep,” Liam jokes.
But before they can head down the stairs, I step in front of the door, thoughts whirling. “Just... one thing. As long as we’re up here.”
Sam tilts his head at me. “Yeah?”
My words are mostly for Liam, but I decide it doesn’t hurt to tell them both. “I might have turned you guys down tonight, but... there’s someone else out there for you right now.” Licking my lips, I try to get through to Liam’s thick skull, hoping he’ll think of Olivia. “Someone you haven’t looked at twice who might just be perfect for you.”
Liam twists his mouth unhappily. “Don’t give us the whole ‘you’ll find somebody’ speech, Dani.”
“It’s not a speech,” I argue, frustrated. “It’s the truth, okay? So just... listen for once, you big loaf.”
Blinking, Liam nods reluctantly. “Okay.”
“Wow, you got through to him.” Sam elbows him in the side. “I hope there’s someone for me, too.”
I have the feeling there is. “You’re one of the best in our combat class. Plenty of girls will swoon for you. And you’re a first year now—just imagine how much attention you’ll get when you’re an upperclassman.”
He grins at me. “That’s the spirit!”
“You too, Dani,” Liam says softly.
“Huh?”
“There’s someone out there for you too.”
Oh, I know there is.
I just hope they haven’t gone anywhere while I’ve been having this conversation. My demons aren’t exactly known for their stellar patience.
“I’m not taking my shirt off.” I’ve never heard Ezra so irritated before, and that’s saying something. “Seriously, you guys have been soul-seeing evil-hunting murderous demons for how many years, and you’re losing all your dignity now?”
“Oh, come on.” Mateo sounds fed up. “You know you want to, tightwad.”
“What I want and what’s good for all of us are two completely different things.”
“The world won’t spin off its orbit just because you give into temptation.” Shockingly, Lynx seems to be on the side of reckless Mateo, which must mean... “It’s three against one. You’re outnumbered, pal, and you know it. Stop fighting fate.”
I clear my throat just before I open the door. They’ve all fallen silent as I walk into the room—and I’m struck just as silent when I see the feast for my eyes laid out before me.
At some point while I was gone, the demons had an undressing contest.
Lynx is leaning up against my wardrobe, swathes of muscular brown skin bared to the world, his arms crossed as he faces a still-clothed Ezra standing in the middle of the room. He smirks at me as I enter, all suave confidence.
Standing near the windows, lit by the stars outside, Mateo is absolutely preening as he thrusts a hand in his thick black hair. He’s taken his shirt off but still has a heavy belt slung around his waist, various unknown powders hanging off it, his gun in the shoulder holster tucked under his left arm.
And Sebastian. Stretched out on the bed, pale skin catching the moonlight, blue eyes staring right at me. His button-up shirt has been deftly unbuttoned and has fallen open to his elbows to reveal the harsh planes of the body beneath.
Of course Ezra is still wearing every stitch of clothing he had on when I left the room, along with an irritated expression. I swear it’s one step forward and two back with him. I’d die a virgin if I had to seduce his marble exterior into melting for me.
Thankfully, I’m not alone in my plans to take this thing to the next level. Like Lynx pointed out, it’s three against one—and I make four.
As we met each other’s eyes and I close the door behind me, I find myself reaching for the hem of my shirt, pulse racing, mouth dry.
“It looks like I’m overdressed for this party.”
And I take it off all at once, not stopping to let myself think twice.
Chapter 18
“Dani.” Ezra sounds like he’s going to choke on his own voice. “You can’t mean this.”
I approach him, knowing that he’s holding onto his last shred of resistance with the barest of fingertips. “I do. But I won’t cross any lines you’re not ready to cross with me.”
Mateo groans. “If we have to wait for this stick-in-the-mud you’ll be eighty by the time he gives in. You’ll break a hip just trying to get his dick hard.”
I don’t respond; I just look up into Ezra’s face, searching for the yearning I can see hiding in his eyes, waiting for him to give over to it completely.
There’s so little standing between me and what I want.
I can’t be blamed for trying to tip things in my favor.
So I reach back, towards the clasp of my bra. Ezra’s eyes shutter closed briefly, desperately, as he sways between resistance and giving in. The bra falls to the ground; I can feel eyes on the fullness of my breasts, can see hunger stoke inside the demons, even as Ezra swallows heavily and tries to deny what he wants.
Lynx practically purrs as he points out, “To be fair, she’s kissed half of us and not the other half. You can’t say no to a little evening of the score.” He reaches out and snags my hand with his broad, strong fingers, his grip a reminder of the lives he’s snuffed with nothing but their bare strength. “If nothing else, give us this.”
It thrills me when Ezra nods his assent. “Fine. But nothing more.”
I doubt he’ll be so hard to sway when I’m pressed up against him.
But first, my beautiful, eagerly shirtless nerd with the smooth accent and the love of books that transcends all logic and emotion. Lynx gathers me to him, hand at the dip in my back, eyes taking me in the way a predator studies his prey. I stretch up towards him, blushing as my nipples press against his bare chest, as he groans and dips his chin down towards me.
We crash together, his strong hands pressing me against his broad muscles, his warm eager mouth consuming mine. He tastes like strength and power; the hands that stroke along my spine are not the delicate kind that spend all day turning pages and holding pens. Lynx is as deadly as the predator he shares a name with, and I can feel that banked, deadly strength as I press against him and open my mouth to let him inside.
As we kiss, hungry and deep, one of his hands moves from my back to my hip. Heavy fingers calloused from holding ropes trail up my rib cage and stroke against the underside of my breast. I shudder and sigh as his thumb finds my nipple and wakes it up, banked heat growing between my thighs, desire blooming inside me as I wonder what that same calloused thumb would feel like pressing inside me and coaxing my pleasure to life.
“Enough.” Ezra’s voice pulls me back to the present, to the other men in the room, their eyes watching me hungrily.
I lick my lips as I break away from our kiss. And I turn to Ezra, aware of how I must look: newly dyed hair mussed, nipples pink and aroused, bare skin warmed with desire. His green eyes jerk down my body and up to my face, abrupt and wild, a man barely holding himself back from what he wants.
His hands make fists, tight and controlled, then relax as he shakes himself out. I watch him swallow.
&nbs
p; Lynx says, “Your turn.”
I wait for him to grab me and pull me to him. I know, inexorably, what will happen if he does. There’s one wall standing between me and Ezra—between me and giving my body over to all four of them—and as soon as the last brick in that wall crumbles, it’s all over.
But I won’t force him.
I breath, half-naked and exposed, standing on the edge of a cliff again.
There’s a knock at the door. “Dani!” It takes me a moment to realize it’s Meyer’s voice; I feel like the ground is moving beneath me. An absurd laugh bubbles up to my mouth, but I swallow it. “Dani, we need to talk, now—I figured it out. I figured it all out!”
Meeting Ezra’s eyes, I realize with a sinking heart that he just put another brick in the wall. And another. And another.
I might as well put my shirt back on. “Coming!”
Mateo mutters, “You should be, but you’re not.” He glares daggers at Ezra. “What are you waiting for? Gut the Grim teacher with your sword and we’ll rut like animals after a hunt.”
“Mateo.” Lynx sounds scandalized. “Even for you...”
“Hush!” I hiss at both of them. “He’ll hear you.”
I pull my shirt on. Then, regretfully, I reach down to my center where the bond rests. It comes to me more easily than ever before; it almost seems to rise up to meet me, eager and strong. The black opal goes cold at my chest as I yank them back to their soul forms, and then—staring into Ezra’s stubborn eyes—dismiss them completely.
Hopefully when I summon them back they won’t have more clothes on. And—a faint, secondary hope—maybe right now the guys are working on Ezra and his stupid stubborn defenses.
I take a brief moment to pat down my mussed hair and fan my inflamed cheeks. Then I put my best studious student expression on, grab a book from my bookshelf, and answer the door with a faint smile. “Mr. Meyer, I thought our meeting was over.”
“You can just call me Leo.” Even though I barely opened the door, he somehow manages to push it further open and slip into my room, making me glad I dismissed the demons before I answered his knock. “I discovered something Dani, something big—and even better than I could’ve hoped for.”
“Oh?” I find myself reaching up to grab the black opal gem and twisting it in my hand over and over again. “What is it?”
“I know exactly when I’ll be able to fix this draining soul bond of yours.” He’s practically manic with excitement, the black journal tucked in one hand, eyes bright. “It took me hours of research. Charting the moon, the sun, and the stars. Very boring work. Thankfully you’re my only student here so I didn’t have much else to do, at least not until the other faculty members make room for me on their syllabuses. But I figured it out, finally—I know the perfect night to perform the spell, and we’re in luck, because it’s coming soon.”
I swear my heart couldn’t ache more, even though I know that this is what’s best for me. “How soon?”
Putting a hand behind my back, I cross my fingers and dare to hope that soon is further away than I fear.
“This upcoming Wednesday at 1:57 AM.” He beams at me. “We’ll set it all up Tuesday night to make sure we’re ready for it, and then a couple hours after midnight, under the light of the moon and the stars, the forces of dark and light will converge to make it possible to sever a soul bond as strong as this one.”
Less than a week.
That’s how little time I have with them.
Weakly, I ask, “And there won’t be another chance to do it?”
“Not for a long, long while—probably long after the bond will have killed you.” He puts a heavy hand on my shoulder, in what must be some attempt at reassuring me, but it only feels like he’s holding me in place. “Thank the Powers that Be I found it in time. You’re lucky, Dani. So very lucky.”
I paste a fake smile on my face. “I am.”
Stepping back, he looks down at me and frowns. “Your shirt is on backwards.”
Heat flares in my cheeks. “Oh, I—was about to take a shower.” I run a hand through my mussed, tangled hair. “You caught me just in time. I wouldn’t have heard you over the spray.”
Suddenly he looks very uncomfortable. His eyes shift around the room, and I’m aware all at once of the fact that he’s a teacher, in my room late at night, moments after I was naked.
This is the kind of thing that would’ve been a scandal at Fern Valley High.
Based on the look of discomfort on Meyer’s face, it’d be a scandal at Phoenix Academy too.
“Well.” Clearing his throat, he grabs the door handle and backs away from me significantly. “I’ll finish up the research and get any supplies we might need in town, and we can go over everything at our next class.”
“Got it.”
“Goodnight, Dani.”
And he exits hastily out of the room, leaving me alone with nothing but a sense of dread and a book of—I check the cover for the first time—poetry in my hand. Frowning, I toss the book on my disorganized desk and throw myself down on the bed again.
Less than a week.
I have less than a week with them.
So I better make it count.
Licking my lips, I imagine the way it’ll feel when Ezra gives in and loses his inhibitions finally, letting me have all four of them. Hands on my hips. A mouth on mine—maybe another mouth moving up the inside of my thigh, nipping and licking, warming me up. Fingers brushing and lightly pinching my nipples.
And their naked bodies, no doubt just as perfect from the waist down as they are on the top half, ready and willing to give me an experience I’ll never forget.
It’s not hard to imagine.
As I do so, my heart beats faster and faster, until—they’re here. Still half-clothed, much to my gratification, though bizarrely the shirts they were wearing come with them and are floating to the floor as I sit up and study their faces.
“Well?” Meeting Ezra’s green eyes, I put all the challenge in my gaze that I can muster. “Are we finally going to do this thing or not? Because I just got some shitty news from Meyer. It turns out we only have—”
I don’t get to finish my sentence.
Striding towards the bed, Ezra brings his hands up to frame my face and pulls me towards him until our mouths meet in a dazzling kiss.
Chapter 19
He may be an ass, but he doesn’t do things halfway. I’ll give Ezra that much—and so much more. He slides onto the mattress next to me and does wicked things with his tongue, his hands stroking the sides of my neck, gently pressing inward.
I can feel how much he wants this.
I don’t even care anymore that he tried to deny it. All I want is to have him, body as well as soul.
Moaning into his mouth, I bring my hands up to his muscled, rounded shoulders and let him pick me up and pull me into his lap. I feel the handle of his sword press against my hip and shudder with arousal at the reminder of just what he’s capable of, the power that lives beneath his skin. This is a man who could end my life in a moment, and instead he’s warm and pliable beneath my fingertips, stoking the flame of my desire to life.
He’s patient and stubborn with his kisses, just like everything. When I try to push him along, when I pull his hand down towards my breast, he jerks away and captures my wrist in a gentle yet implacable grasp.
His mouth, absurdly, tastes like spring. Those full, clever lips of his—so often pursed in irritation or opened wide to tell someone off—are skillful and exacting. When I tilt my head just slightly to the left, he follows, changing the depth and direction of the kiss.
One of his hands presses against the nape of my neck, and my breath catches.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I bring my hands down to the hem of his shirt and start to jerk it up, to touch the warm skin beneath—and he jerks away, green eyes flying open, expression suddenly shuttering closed.
Panting, I stare at him in confusion. “What?”
He wipes his mouth with t
he back of his hand and slides me off his lap. “There,” he says, voice roughened by our makeout session, undeniably aroused—anyone could see it, and his crotch is right at eye level. “We’re even now. Everyone’s gotten the same kiss.”
The other guys are staring at him; Mateo looks like he was about to pull his belt off and yank his pants down. “No way dude. This wasn’t just about a fucking kiss and we all know it.”
But Ezra’s jaw has tightened, and his expression is stubbornly intractable. “Sex isn’t worth losing your life, Dani.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had sex.” I scowl at him, crossing my arms on my chest—and purposefully pushing up my breasts, just to see if I can really get him going and make him forget about this absurd desire to control everything. “At this rate I’ll die of whatever blue balls is for women.”
“That’s blue—”
Lynx cuts Mateo off. “Don’t say it.”
“I have an idea.” Prowling towards me, Sebastian lets his blue eyes linger on my body, taking me in from head to toe. Then he reaches out a hand towards me, fingertips skimming up my arm, dancing towards my collarbone. “There are other ways to bring pleasure.”
Mateo groans. “It’s not fair if we’re not all involved.”
Something flares in Sebastian’s eyes, and suddenly the heat between my legs is very strong. Pleasure moves up me, curling in my abdomen, streaking across my skin and making me quiver. He’s using his powers to multiple the pleasure inside me, just like he’s taken away my pain, and it’s exquisite in every way.
Until Ezra grabs his shoulder and jerks Sebastian back. “Stop that.” His fingers tighten, and suddenly his hand is going towards his hip, where his sheathed sword hangs with military precision. “If you can’t control yourself, I will.”
The growl that leaves Sebastian’s throat isn’t human at all. “Only Dani can control me. Not you.”
Tension fills the room. Mateo shifts his hand closer to his shoulder holster; Lynx’s hands turn into fists, his posture torn between Sebastian, Ezra, and me as his eyes shift wildly between us. Sebastian’s eyes land on his shirt, which floated to the ground—complete with the thin knife sheathes sewn into the sleeves.